Figural shoes are a delightful, long-collected art form, which especially flourished in Victorian times and after World War II. This ground-breaking book, the first authoritative work on shoes made of porcelain and pottery, illustrates over 1,200 from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They are accompanied by hundreds of marks and carefully drawn scale sketches showing in-mold detail and relative dimensions. Identified manufacturers include Royal Worcester, Coalport, Spode, Meissen, Goss, Heubach, Conta & Boehme, von Schierholz, Dedham, Morimura (Nippon), Schafer & Vater, and the most comprehensive group of Royal Bayreuth shoes ever published. There is also a large section on French faience from such factories as Henriot, the elusive Alcide Chaumeil, Moreau, Porquier, Verlingue, Longwy, and the several Fourmaintraux families. In addition, most of the unmarked porcelain shoes have been traced to German factories, many revealed here for the first time. Current values are included for all. The extensively researched text includes an alphabetical list of manufacturers, designers, decorators, and importers, with locations, years of operations, and product lines. Simplified, practical explanations on manufacturing processes are included, as are pointers for identifying and dating unmarked shoes, recognizing fakes, and assessing values. Shoe and figural collectors and all who appreciate fine porcelain and pottery will find this an essential reference and a visual delight.

More than 70 contemporary international glass artists' works leap from these pages in dynamic photos, alongside the makers' own explanations of the methods and insights that guide their work. The glass works range from tableware to furniture, and demonstrate today's top levels of mastery. They are powerful, gorgeous, sometimes startling-and always reflective of the current state of glass art. The artists are as diverse as their masterpieces, and their comments reveal some of the motivations and techniques that impact them as they transform molten glass into works of art. Everyone who works in glass or enjoys its effects will find this an invaluable reference and an inspiration to future creativity.